Dawn of The Walking Dead
by ibelieveinsherlock2
Summary: After leaving Jim behind, the group moves on to the CDC. Jim accepts his fate but destiny has a different plan. A small group stumbles upon Jim and rushes him back to camp. Barely making it, the group who found Jim is able to get to work and save his life just in time before he turns,but how?
1. Chapter 1

You've read about the world ending but never thought it would actually happen. The day the world ended. The moment everything stopped. An apocalypse. It changes people. One day you're living an ordinary life just like everyone else and the next,the life you knew is gone. Now you're forced to fight to survive. _Survival is everything._

It had been almost three days since Rick and the others had left Jim leaned up against a tree on the side of the road. By now the infection from the walker who had bit him was effecting his senses. His vision was distorted and had grown critically worse. He could barely make out the view before him. Every breath felt like a knife stabbing him in the chest and every small movement sent a wave of pain throughout his body. Jim could barely hear the birds chirping above him in the tree or feel the warm sunlight on his skin.

Two trucks approached down below on the road. Several people exited the vehicles while voices echoed in the distance. _Someone found me?_ Jim thought. He dismissed the thought before he tilted his head back against the bark of the tree.

Once the car was in park, I ran up the hill and kneeled down in front of the man I had spotted from afar. He looked at me and watched as I shouted for help, but it was just slurred speech to his ears. Everything was a blur to him, but he could just barely make out the person before him. The young woman looked around mid-twenties with long dark raven hair.

I reached out as I gently touched a hand to his face while looking him over. He looked pale and very dehydrated.

"Hello? Can you hear me? What's your name?"

"J-Jim" He uttered before suddenly blacking out.

When I saw him fade into unconsciousness, I took him in my arms and pulled him away from the tree before I gently laid him down on the soft grass beside the tree. Sitting down on the soft grass on the side of the hill, I cradled his head in my arms while I made sure he was still breathing. I called out to the others that I had arrived with who were still down at the bottom of the hill near the vehicles.

"Hurry up!"

The others from my group grabbed some stuff from the vehicles and ran up the hill, catching up to where I was with supplies. They took a step back and let someone through while they watched. It was Alison Wilson. Alison was a nurse in training while she attending a University before everything ended. Alison kneeled down next to him and quickly looked him over.

"Is he bit?" She asked.

"I don't know..." I replied, slightly panicking. "He said his name was Jim."

Getting no help by my answer, Alison sighed and got to work quickly, grabbing the medical bag and pulling out a sharp knife. I watched closely while I folded my arms across my chest and waited in anticipation as she took the blade of the knife and began to cut off his shirt. She stopped when she discovered the wrapping around his waist and let out a frustrated sigh,dropping the knife in the grass.

"Damn it. If we're going to do this, it has to be now."

A man approached and looked over her shoulder to get a better look at what was going on. He was about medium height with dark brown hair. He wore blue jeans and a dark grey short sleeve shirt. When he laid eyes on the wound, he reached over and stopped the woman from proceeding to examine him.

"Wait," he said. "We don't know how long he's been exposed. What if it's too late?"

Alison turned around behind her to give the man a sharp look, not wanting to deal with his dilemmas at the moment. It was a tough decision and being that she was the only one who was a medic, she got to make the calls. She only hoped she didn't make the wrong one.

"Let's move him!" She ordered, packing up her gear. The man who had stopped her before stood in her way when she turned around to help the team. He was glaring at her with an angry glint in his eyes.

"We need to move him now," She explained. "We take the precautions we can and worry about the rest later. Let's go, John."

So the group picked up Jim and carried him down the hillside to the truck. They placed him in the bed of the truck while I jumped up in the back with him and two others who stood on guard with loaded weapons in case anything went wrong during the drive.

We sped down the abandoned road. A few minutes later the truck took a right and turned down onto a narrow dirt road through a thick forest with tall trees looming overhead above. The truck came to a stop just as the sun was no longer visible on the horizon. A few yards ahead behind tall wired steel fenced wall was a huge building. It looked like a college or a mansion. The brick walls on the outside were worn and cracked, possibly from being attacked by military or walkers.

"I don't know if he's going to make it." I called out.

With little light left, I hopped down from the back of the truck and helped the team rush him inside the building. Frantic voices echoed through the corridors on the inside of the place as we raced to save him. Quickly we rushed him into a room and placed him gently down on a table.

"Where's the meds?" a man called out, entering the room.

The patient faded in and out of conscious while the group worked. One person strapped his hands while another chained his feet to the table. Then another person took a bite guard mask and placed it over his face.

Once everything was secure, a man dressed in a military uniform stepped into the room with two assistants. It was Bryan. Bryan Slater was an ex-military medic who served in the army until the world ended. One assistant turned on a bright overhead light while the other grabbed some strange looking tools.

"Okay, knock him out but keep him alive." Bryan ordered one assistant.

While everyone else cleared the room, I turned back and ran over to the man on the table and looked down at him. I took his hand in mine and held it tightly. An assistant stepped up beside me and injected the anesthesia. Bryan wasted no more time once the medicine had been injected as he quickly gathered his tools.

"Stay with us, all right?" I quickly whispered.

I looked into his eyes and watched the light in his eyes slowly fade. Once the patient was out,Bryan then ordered me to leave but before I did I gave him a meaningful glare.

"Don't lose him." I said in a low growl.

He gave me a firm nod before I released the patient's hand and strode past him out into the hallway.


	2. Chapter 2

I anxiously paced back and forth as I waited outside the room in the hallway. One of my team mates, Alison, had decided to wait with me. She explained she wanted to keep a look out on the patient, but I knew she was lying. She was there for me in case things went bad. I hadn't made many friends ever since I joined the group,but Alison had always been there for me.

Hours passed by and soon day gave away to night as I nervously glanced out the window to see it was pitch black outside. I didn't leave my spot as Alison went and brought dinner to me from the kitchen while we waited.

"Any news?" She asked.

I just shook my head no and sat down in the small wooden chair before eating my meal. My eyes were locked on the door as I ate outside the room in the hallway.

Finally around midnight the door to the operating room opened as Bryan emerged and I jumped to my feet. I immediately took in the amount of blood on his clothes and the exhausted look on his face. The worst thought had crossed my mind as I felt my heart race.

"Well?" Alison asked impatiently.

Bryan took a deep breath,sighing before he answered. I flashed a worried look over to Alison as she gripped my hand tightly.

"It's critical. Right now he's sedated,but we won't know for a few days. We'll have to have him monitored until he wakes up."

He gave a small shrug of his shoulders before excusing himself from the conversation and walking off down the hall. Eager to go in, I had to contain my excitement as I held myself back and peered into the room from through the small glass window on the door to get a glimpse of the patient laying on the table.

As the week progressed, we each took shifts watching the patient. When Friday came around I was only too keen to take up my post later that night. While I was on watch, sitting in my chair in the corner with my gun, something drew my attention. Muffled groans were coming from the patient on the table and I immediately jumped up from my seat, grabbed my gun, and called for help.

"Bryan! He's waking up!" I yelled out into the hall.

I kept my eyes on the person as I watched them thrash and claw to escape from the chains strapping him to the table. Bryan ran into the room with five others following closely behind him. He grabbed a flashlight and shinned it in the patient's eyes. He thoroughly looked him over before signaling one of his men to remove the biting restraint. Carefully the mask was removed as Bryan stepped forward.

"Hello, my name is Bryan. Do you know who you are?" he asked.

Jim nodded and looked around. His eyes stopped when he spotted me and I could see how frightened he was.

"M-my name's J-Jim. It's Jim." he stammered.

Everyone looked at each other in amazement. Bryan strode over to a table and grabbed a video camera and handed it to a young Sargent who started filming the scene. Bryan continued with asking Jim questions to which Jim responded casually.

"Why am I tied up? Can you please untie me?" Jim cried out.

The longer he was conscious and still strapped down,the more edgy he became. I stepped forward and stood next to him to try and ease him the best I could.

"I remember you..." He recalled,looking up at me.

I nodded and gave a small smile as Jim tried his best to reach out to me and take my hand. Bryan and the others yelled out in objection, but I didn't pull my hand away. When I looked into Jim's eyes I didn't see death. I saw life. He wasn't dangerous.

Bryan and the others agreed to have Jim kept in quarantine and monitored for a few more days until he was stabilized. So they took him and locked him up in the spare storage room. They didn't want to risk anything seeing how this could be a huge breakthrough for them and possibly any other survivors. I couldn't help but worry about Jim. He was constantly on my mind. I spent most of my time, when I wasn't working or helping out the group, by his side just sitting outside his room door. Sometimes it would be very quiet while other days I could hear screaming and wailing coming from the other side of the door.

After a few days, I negotiated with Bryan to allow visitors in Jim's room so I could help answer some of his questions and keep him sane. I went in and sat in a chair but there was a long moment of awkward silence. He was wearing a short sleeve black t-shirt and a pair of dark beige cargo pants.

"How are you feeling?"

"I feel better than before. I feel normal." he answered.

Jim sat on the floor in front of his bed and lifted up his shirt. He lightly ran a hand over the fresh scar where he had been bitten by the walker when the camp was attacked.

"How is this possible?" he asked. "How am I here? I should have turned by now..."

I leaned forward and sat at the edge of my seat as I looked directly across the room at Jim. I then went on to tell him the story about everything that had happened. How Bryan had stumbled upon a group of scientist while he was on his return from his station in London after the virus broke out. It had taken years to even get a hint that it was possible for a cure to this disaster. Now they had instead focused on a small task of stopping the infection from turning victims.

After getting Jim up to date on the situation watched him for a reaction. But all he said was...

"I should be dead."

I got up from my chair, strode over, and kneeled down in front of him. I stared at him trying to read his expression to see if I could figure out what was bothering him.

"You're not. You're alive. And I'm glad."

Jim pulled away and glared at me. His eyes narrowed as he furrowed his brow.

"Why do you care? I barely know you."

I looked at him taken aback before I let him go and leaned away from him. I shrugged my shoulders and dropped my gaze. I wasn't sure why I did what I had.

"Maybe I just wanted to show others there was still kindness in the world. I don't know." I admitted.

I stood and looked at him with hurtful gleam in my eyes. Seeing how he was still trying to comprehend the entire deal, I decided to leave him alone for a while.

"I'll leave some food by the door if you want it." I added, looking back at him.

I strode over to the door but my hand hesitated as it reached for the handle. Faintly I could barely hear Jim mutter something.

"Thank you."

I took my leave and returned a few minutes later with a plate of food from dinner and some water. Jim seemed more relaxed when I came around on my second visit and it seemed that the more I visited the more stable he became.


	3. Chapter 3

A few weeks had passed by and now Jim was released from isolation. Bryan didn't trust him with a room to himself without always having a guard on him so I suggested that Jim move in to my room. Each room had two beds so more than one person could share a room. Bryan didn't like this being he still didn't trust Jim, let alone with me, but I told him I could take care of myself.

I got new clothes for Jim from the storage room and showed him around the fort. Regardless of Commander Bryan's efforts of getting Jim to carry a firearm, I informed Jim to take it easy until he felt comfortable. For a while he would barely leave his room only to eat and shower. I made sure no one around bothered him and tried my best to keep Bryan away even though he was becoming more ruthless and aggravated with me being so protective of Jim.

Poor Jim was a frightened little sheep who was misplaced with a pack of wolves. Luckily I wasn't like the others and showed a kinder side than my fellow comrades.

Somehow I managed to get Jim to agree to take a walk with me one afternoon on a stroll around the grounds. Bryan demanded that we stayed within the perimeters and ordered two guards to keep an eye on us from the tower. He was always over cautious about new things and was still unsure about Jim even after we had saved his life.

I waited outside Jim's room and luckily didn't have to wait long before the door opened and he stepped out. I could tell by the look on his face just how nervous he was about leaving his room.

"Hey, you don't have to do this, Jim." I said, placing a hand on his shoulder and looking directly into his eyes. "It's your choice."

He gave a little nod and cleared his throat before putting on the jacket I had handed him. Even though the sun shinned bright outside it was still winter time with a light chilling breeze. I led the way down the corridor and out onto the grounds. I looked over to Jim to see him squint as he walked out into the sunlight. It took a while for his eyes to adjust from being cooped up inside for so long.

We walked side by side for a while and made our way around to the edge of the woods. The trees lightly swayed in the breeze as I gave a small shiver. The fall leaves crunched beneath my black combat boots as I walked.

"Do you think my friends are still alive?" Jim asked suddenly.

I stopped walking and looked over at him. Jim had told me about what he had been through with the last group and hoped that he would find them.

"From the stories you've told me, they got to be."

Jim glanced down at the ground before looking up at me with a small smile.

"Thank you...for all you've done. It means a lot and about what I said earlier I'm sorry; I really do appreciate you caring. It's just been tough these past few weeks."

I nodded understandingly while we continued on walking. I reached over and placed my arm over his shoulder, pulling him closer.

"Hey it's okay. You're alive, Jim. So am I. We've survived this long. Don't worry, we'll find your friends even if it means breaking every single one of Bryan's stupid rules."

Jim gave a small smile at my words and I could tell it made him happy. It even made me happy. We continued to talk about random things like the scenery and we joked about Bryan to help keep our minds off the chaos while we walked around the grounds.

Dusk came quickly and soon we headed back to the fort for dinner. But just when we were about to reach the entrance door Jim stopped me suddenly and glanced over to the tower to make sure the two guards weren't watching us. When he saw their backs were turned he then pulled me close and leaned over to me before he whispered in my ear.

"It's not safe here."

I didn't reply, but instead just looked at him confused as he walked past me into the fort. I pondered on what he meant throughout dinner while avoiding his gaze as I sat across the table from him.


End file.
